I AM A FEMINIST WITH A DIFFERENCE!
It is easy for the diverse public I meet daily to understand what I do for a living as a lawyer, but it’s a little bit difficult to grasp the reality that by the strength of my choice, profession and training, I advocate for women rights. No thanks to some misandrists hiding under the cloak of feminism on social media, to spill out all sorts of ridiculous theory. How do we address the hordes of people in this country who are daily bombarded with hating feminists who are hurting and encouraging others to hate and kill? Maybe, before you criticize a feminist, you might need to ask the definition and the objective of the feminism, such a person is advocating.
To make some feminists suffer for the lapses and ill-will of some misandrist is absurd. Feminism is a noble cause though broad; it is not about hatred to men. Pinning feminism to a single definition is complex if not impossible. It can be defined as a collection of movement and ideologies aimed at defining, defending, equal political , economic, social rights for women in fact it also seeks an extension to the liberation of men especially in the patriarchy system.
We advocate for the awareness of the rights of girls and women ,we are of the opinion that the biological differences between both genders should not translate to different rights for them. We advocate that there should not be discrimination on the basis of gender as the section 42 of the 1999 constitution of the federal Republic of Nigeria as amended has stipulated. We speak against cultural vices such as Female Genital Mutilation and Women trafficking. We want women to dream and pursue their goals without restraint, we are concerned with the overall empowerment of the female gender. We challenge gender stereotypes and constraint posing as barriers to the realization of the potentials of the female gender.
We DO NOT HATE MEN, funnily enough, majority of people who had shaped my perception about Feminism are men starting from my own father who raised I and my beautiful sister in an atmosphere devoid of discrimination, to my academic father, Professor A. O Popoola who supervised my undergraduate dissertation in ‘Feminist Jurisprudence’ at the university and who shaped most of my concepts and ideologies on Feminism at the Obafemi Awolowo University and my mentor Bar. Oladeji Olalekan Benjamin who played a major role in defining my concepts.
Imagine living in a world where females and males are not alike or even but equal in the face of law and opportunities granted to them. Imagine a world where the vision of mutuality is the ethos shaping our interaction and existence. Imagine living in a world where we all can be together realizing our dreams of freedom and justice accepting the truth that our differences should not translate to inequalities.
Unfortunately, there is neither licensing body nor institute of Professional Feminists to regulate or monitor people’s perception or orientation about the cause they promote. So, people are free and have the right to propound any theory and label it any name. Shall we because of the flagrant abuse of a concept disregard the concept? People abuse money, food, religion, position and sex. Shall we then do away with all of these because it has been abused by majority of people? Definitely, No